ULE.L Share News (ULE)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were in the red on Friday, with GVC sliding in the large cap index as its leadership sold stock, while both Bodycote and SIG were higher after positive annual results. The FTSE 100 index was 47.07 points lower, or 0.7%, at 7,110.48.The mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 153.73 points, or 0.8%, at 19,030.09, while the AIM All-Share index was off 0.5% at 905.47.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.5% at 12,074.03, while the Cboe UK 250 was also 0.5% lower at 17,063.22, but the Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.1% at 11,120.12.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.6% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was likewise 0.6% lower. On the London Stock Exchange, GVC slumped 13% in the FTSE 100 as both Chair Lee Feldman and Chief Executive Kenneth Alexander sold a significant amount of stock.Alexander sold 2.1 million shares at 666 pence for GBP13.7 million, while Feldman disposed of 900,000 shares at the same price for GBP6.0 million. Alexander said: "We have both held large personal shareholdings in GVC for a long time and continue to do so. Both of us remain fully committed to GVC and, whilst I continue to have the support of our shareholders, I'm here for the long term and at the very least I have a current plan that will take three plus years to accomplish."We reported excellent results earlier this week and we both remain convinced of the exciting prospects for the business. Therefore while we continue at GVC we will not reduce our holdings below the current levels."In the FTSE 250, Bodycote was a big winner, up 8.7%, as it reported solid revenue and profit growth for 2018, with all of its divisions managing to report revenue improvement.The thermal processing firm's statutory pretax profit climbed to GBP132.2 million from GBP117.0 million, with the headline figure up 12% to GBP136.4 million.Bodycote's revenue rose 5.6%, and 6.7% at constant currency rates, to GBP728.6 million.The company will pay a final dividend of 13.2p, taking the 2018 total to 19.0p from 17.4p a year before. On top of that, it also will pay a special dividend of 20p, having returned a special payout of 25p in 2017.Bodycote had a strong year, the company said, and it enters 2019 "well positioned".Topping the mid-cap index, however, was specialist building products firm SIG, up 9.8% as it reported a drop in annual revenue, though it also swung to a pretax profit.SIG's statutory revenue fell to GBP2.74 billion in 2018, from GBP2.88 billion in 2017, but it returned to pretax profit, posting GBP28.5 million from a GBP54.7 million loss a year prior.On an underlying basis, revenue fell 1.2% to GBP2.68 billion, with like-for-like sales down 2.1%. SIG's underlying pretax profit was up 8.5% to GBP75.3 million.SIG is paying a 2.5p final dividend, meaning the total for 2018 is unchanged from the year before at 3.75p.The company said its transformation strategy is now beginning to take shape, with the second half of 2018 seeing "significant" progress.Net debt has fallen 27% to GBP189.4 million, SIG continued, and the firm plans on reducing this further.However, trading conditions do remain challenging, and SIG has guided for further like-for-like sales decline in the first part of 2019.Saga was 5.9% lower, as JPMorgan cut its rating on the over 50s travel and insurance services provider to Underweight from Neutral. Ultra Electronics was 3.8% lower, having closed up 11% on Thursday after a ratings upgrade from JPMorgan to Overweight from Neutral. RPC was 1.4% lower as it decided to withdraw its recommendation that shareholders accept Apollo Management's offer for the firm, and accept Berry Global's offer instead.Plastics firm RPC has agreed a 793 pence per share deal with US-based Berry Global, having previously agreed a 782p deal with Apollo. RPC shares closed at 796.41p on Thursday.The deals would value RPC at approximately GBP3.22 billion and GBP3.18 billion respectively.This comes as Apollo also announced Friday it has received approvals for its RPC offer from competition regulators in South Africa.UK high street retailers experienced their worst February in a decade with total sales up marginally on the previous year, according to the latest BDO's High Street Sales Tracker, released Friday.Data covering the four weeks to February 24, showed total like-for-like sales up 0.8% on the same month a year ago.In-store sales were down 3.7% year-on-year, while online sales increased by 12%. A year ago online sales accelerated by 16%."The result marks the sixth consecutive year of negative in-store like-for-like sales for February and the worst February result in a decade," BDO said."Over the past thirteen straight months, in-store like-for-like sales have been negative and in that period only March and April 2018 posted lower results, when the weather turned truly sour."In political news, UK Prime Minister Theresa May will plead with EU leaders to show flexibility in order to help her Brexit deal survive next week's Commons showdown.After talks earlier this week in Brussels broke down, May said the decisions made by the EU in the coming days would have a "big impact" on the fate of the deal.MPs will vote on Tuesday on whether to back the Withdrawal Agreement as May seeks further concessions on the Northern Ireland backstop in order to reverse the humiliating 230-vote defeat suffered the last time the Commons passed judgment on her Brexit deal.The pound was quoted at USD1.3092 Friday, broadly flat from USD1.3096 late Thursday.China's exports plummeted 21% in February due to the Lunar New Year holiday and pressure from the trade war with the US, official data showed Friday.Exports reached USD135.2 billion following the larger-than-expected annual drop. Chinese imports fell 5.2% year-on-year in February to USD131.1 billion.Total foreign trade decreased 14% compared with last February, reaching USD266.4 billion.Foreign trade was impacted by China's week-long Lunar New Year holiday in early February. Nevertheless, the Chinese economy has also been suffering from a months-long trade war with the US that saw Washington slap tariffs on USD250 billion worth of Chinese imports.Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday in a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session some people want to "decouple" the US and Chinese economies, labelling the efforts as "wishful thinking".The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 2.0%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended 4.4% lower in late trade, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong finished down 1.9%.Japan's economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.9% in the last quarter of 2018, revised up from an initial estimate of 1.4%, a government report showed on Friday.The reading was almost in line with the 1.8% growth forecast by analysts surveyed by the Kyodo News agency and represented the first expansion in two quarters, the Cabinet Office said.Wall Street on Thursday ended lower with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 0.8%, the S&P 500 losing 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite slipping 1.1%.In US political news, despite the failed summit last week between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the US government believes it is still possible to conclude an agreement to denuclearize the country by the end of Trump's first term in 2020.A senior US State Department official said Thursday is the time frame officials are working from."We are not as far along as we wanted to be, but we are making progress," the official said at a briefing.Trump's second meeting with Kim ended without a final declaration. The two sides were divided on the central issue of how North Korea should get rid of its nuclear weapons and what it should get in return.Still to come in the economic events calendar are Italy producer prices at 1000 GMT and the US jobs report for February at 1330 GMT."The consensus expectations for Friday's headline non-farm payrolls data point to around 180,000 jobs added in February, after January's much stronger-than-expected 304,000 print," said Forex.com's Fawad Razaqzada. "The February unemployment rate is expected to have fallen to 3.9% from 4.0%. In terms of wage growth, average hourly earnings are expected to have increased by 0.3% month-over-month or 3.3% year-over-year after the modest 0.1% month-over-month increase last time of 3.2% year-over-year."